Companies seek relief from product-safety regulations - bizjournals:

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Congress passed the Consumer Producta Safety Improvement Act in August 2008 in respons e to the discovery of high lead content in toys importedefrom China. But U.S. businessesw contend the law has made it impossiblee for them to sell producte that pose no health threatto children. Manufacturersd complain the law’s requirements to test and certifyg children’s products for lead and phthalates — and attach permaneng tracking labels on them are unreasonable and too costly for many small Supporters of the legislation contenrd the has done a poor job of providing guidance to businessea on how to comply with the They also maintain the commission has the authority to exclude certain classes of productsd fromthe law’s requirements if they don’t pose a health But Nancy Nord, acting chairmanm of the Consumer Product Safety testified at a House hearing May 14 that the agencyy is “hamstrung by the law’s sweeping reach and The commission has “not yet been able to identifhy any products that would meet the law’s requirementsx for exclusions,” Nord On Jan.
30, the commission issued a one-year stay of enforcementt for the law’s testing and certification “It was very clear peoplee were not ready to meet the Nord said. But that stay of enforcemengt did not relieve manufacturers or retailers of the underlyinfg legal liability for selling products that fail to meetthe law’as lower lead and phthalate levels, whicbh went into effect Feb. 10. “According to the retailing the staychanges nothing,” said David McCubbin, a partnerr in , an Oklahoma City, Okla.
, “Retailers continue to ask us to Even though there is no evidence that his company’s hosieruy contains lead, the company will be forcesd to pay more than $500,000 on lead testinbg over the next year, McCubbin said. Hosiery isn’t likel y to be ingested or inhaled, so lead wouldn’t pose a health hazard even if itwere present, he added. Textilexs should be exempted from the leadtesting requirement, he The law could cost creators of handmade itemx their businesses, two home-based crafters testified. Laurel Schreiber, ownerr of in Allison Pa., makes and sells monogrammed gifts for such ashair bows, and an appliqueds bib and bloomer set.
Even though most of the materialsz she uses in her products have been tested for lead or thelaw — as written — woulxd require her to test each individual item. That would cost her $300 to $1,275t for products that sell for $5 to $20, Schreiberd said. Suzanne Lang, owner of in Pa., created 36 patterns of giraffeelast year. To test each of thos e items for lead and phthalates would cost up to she said. She grossede only $4,500 last year. Rep. Jason Altmire who chaired the House Small Business Committee pane that heldthe hearing, pledged to work on a solution to the law’s problems.
“This is just the first step,” he But Altmire blamed “ineffective leadership” at the Consumef Product Safety Commissionand “thse vagueness of important CPSC guidelines” for most of the He hopes new leadership and a bigger budget for the agencuy “will lead to a smoother transition to these new What: Effective dates: • Feb. 10, 2009: Productds for children 12 or younger cannot be sold if they containj more than 600 partsz per millionof lead. • Aug. 14, 2009: The lead limirt is reduced to 300 partsper • Aug.
10, The lead limit is reduced to 100 parts per unless the Consumer Producty Safety Commission determines that is nottechnologically feasible. Consumer Product Safety Commission